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New Haven County Court Records

Retrospective No. 4: Marriage and Divorce

by Sarah Morin on 2025-05-06T08:30:00-04:00 in Archives, Connecticut, Courts: Connecticut Courts, History, Women's History | 0 Comments

In keeping with the proverb “Marry in May, rue the day,” May is devoted to highlighting a selection of cases involving marriage and divorce in the New Haven County and Superior Court records.

Please note that this compilation is not comprehensive. There are several cases involving or mentioning marriage and divorce in the New Haven County and Superior Court records. This retrospective is meant to serve as a starting point for future researchers and investigators, giving a glimpse into the information these records contain.

Blog No. 24: Marriage Attitudes, Laws, and Controversies

A wife brandishes her fist at her husband in a room with plaster peeling from the walls, amidst six squabbling and noisy children. Caption reads: Les Plaisir du Mènage.

The Joys of Domestic Life (as translated from French), a satire on marriage. Created by British caricaturist and printmaker James Gillray in 1781. Public domain image courtesy of James Gillray and the National Portrait Gallery of London, via Wikimedia Commons.

In colonial and early American New England, there were two conflicting views of matrimony: marriage as a social good, and marriage as a source of suffering. To maintain order and decency amidst these popular sentiments, Connecticut enacted several laws regulating this institution. In such an environment, it is no surprise that controversies concerning marriage appeared in the courts.

Marriage Attitudes, Laws, and Controversies

Digitized case documents (Judah Woodruff vs. Benjamin Hall)

Digitized case documents (William Davidson vs. Nathan Fenn)

Digitized case documents (Rex and Elizabeth Andross vs. Jedidiah Andross)

Blog No. 36: More Marriage Controversies

Victorian genre scene of young white man and young white woman wearing circa 1780s clothes; “one-knee” proposal

The Proposal, an oil on canvas painting by John Pettie, 1869. Public domain image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

This post examines another series of court cases involving abandonment, adultery, alienation of affections, divorce, domestic violence, and other legal controversies surrounding marriage in colonial and early American Connecticut.

More Marriage Controversies

Blog No. 48: Divorce in Eighteenth-Century Connecticut

etching and engraving of scene depicting white family, white female servant, Black male servant

Discordant Matrimony, after John Collet, print made by John Goldar, published by John Boydell, 1765. Public domain image courtesy of British Museum, via Wikimedia Commons.

While divorce was not nearly so common in colonial Connecticut as it is today, it was not completely uncommon, either. This post examines eighteenth-century divorce cases in the New Haven County Superior Court.

Divorce in Eighteenth-Century Connecticut

Blog No. 52: Divorce in Nineteenth-Century Connecticut

Illustration of husband and wife arguing, caption: WITH A BOTTLE OF TENEXINE IN THE HOUSE, DIVORCE IS ABSOLUTELY IMPOSSIBLE.

Advertisement for Tenexine, circa 1900. Public domain image courtesy of Miami University Libraries—Digital Collections, via Wikimedia Commons.

Divorces continued to rise in the 1800s, and drunkenness was a common factor. Our student volunteer Abby Davidson analyzes her fascinating findings in the nineteenth-century divorce petitions of the New Haven County Superior Court.

Divorce in Nineteenth-Century Connecticut

Instagram Stories

In addition to the blog, we profiled several cases involving broken engagements, marriage, and divorce on Instagram:

In August 1780, Gideon Hide of Derby made an agreement to marry Annah Wooster of Derby. However, after he went and married “one Sarah Babbit” instead, she took him to court.

Linda M. Atwater of Cheshire sued Wyllys Avery of Wallingford for breach of promise in 1810.

In March 1782, Alling Bradley of New Haven sued Enos Hitchcock Jr. and Noah Peck, also of New Haven, for crashing his wedding to Sarah Collins and assaulting him and his guests.

In August 1785, Sophia “Sophy” Saunderson (née Jackson) of New Haven sought a divorce from James “Quarm” Saunderson for bigamy.

While most of the divorce petitions in the New Haven County Superior Court involved desertion or adultery, Obadiah Munson of New Haven claimed more unusual grounds in August 1778: that he was unaware his wife was actually “the Infamous Rachel Page of Branford[,] a Person who had been lately convicted of & punished for Theft[,] the mother of a Bastard Child[,] the Catalogue of whose Crimes would disgrace the Records of a Court.”

As noted in a previous post, the records for these cases, as well as several of the cases previously profiled in this blog, are currently in the process of being digitized. They will eventually be available for public viewing at the Connecticut Digital Archive (CTDA).

This project is made possible through funding from the Historic Documents Preservation fund of the Office of the Public Records Administrator. We also recognize the past support of the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC).

 Logo with text: CT State Library. Preserving the Past. Informing the Future. Logo of eagle with text: National Archives National Historical Publications ampersand Records Commission


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